KANSAS CITY, mo. — Sunday's dirt-under-their-fingernails victory at Arrowhead Stadium won't go on the Broncos' defensive mantel as their proudest performance this season. But it just might be a sign of the times.

"That's how you know when you're doing OK," Broncos defensive tackle Kevin Vickerson said. "When people start talking about ugly wins. We know we can play better across the board and we'll talk about that this week, but we were solid on defense, we got the W and we didn't give up a touchdown.

"And now we go home to clean it up and work on the next one."

The Broncos surrendered more rushing yards to the Chiefs than they wanted and didn't really get a chance to rush Brady Quinn the way they intended because of the Chiefs' low-risk offensive game plan. But the Broncos didn't surrender a touchdown.

"Not always going to be pretty, but we'll take it," Broncos defensive end Elvis Dumervil said. "An ugly W is better than no W."

What went right

The Broncos added a little more to the misery pile for the NFL's lowest-scoring offense. The Chiefs came in averaging 15.4 points per game. Kansas City moved the ball inside the Broncos' 20-yard line three times, only to be turned away each time.

It was the second AFC West opponent the Broncos have held without a touchdown. Denver limited Oakland to two field goals in Week 4.

The Broncos also limited the Chiefs to 3-of-14 on third down (21 percent).

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"That's a dogfight game," Dumervil said. "You don't want to give them anything big, just keep playing, make some plays and get off the field on third down. It wasn't perfect, but we got off the field enough to give our offense the ball."

The Broncos kept Quinn, the former Broncos backup quarterback, from hitting the Chiefs' top-end receivers on third down. Coming into the game Chiefs quarterbacks had targeted wide receiver Dwayne Bowe, running back Dexter McCluster and tight end Tony Moeaki the most on third-down passes.

The Broncos slapped Champ Bailey on Bowe, for the most part, and held him to four receptions. And Quinn, making only his third start of the season after two years riding the bench in Denver, showed his rustiness by continuing to throw at Bowe when there were more prudent options. Quinn targeted Bowe 14 times. In the fourth quarter, Quinn attempted four passes on third down, with three going toward Bowe and none completed.

McCluster left the game with a head-and-neck injury. Moeaki finished with two catches.

What went wrong

The Chiefs weren't going to take many chances. and stayed one-dimensional most of the game. Yet they still were able to pound out 148 yards rushing (107 from Jamaal Charles). Most of the damage came against the Broncos' base defense, designed to stop the run.

"Some of it was due to us giving them a little more than they should have gotten, but I just can't take anything away from Jamaal Charles," Vickerson said.

Up next

Tampa Bay running back Doug Martin had 50 yards rushing in the Buccaneers' loss to the Falcons on Sunday, but he scored twice and took all 21 of the team's handoffs.

Martin has 1,050 yards rushing, or just 98 yards fewer than the Broncos have as a team. The Bucs used the 31st pick in the draft last spring to select him, a pick they got in a trade with the Broncos.

Century ClubThe Chiefs' Jamaal Charles was the third player this season to top 100 yards rushing against the Broncos' defense. While Charles made life difficult for the Broncos, he was also the only one of the three backs who didn't come away with a win.

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